I am probably not the only one saying this but The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum is a suburban Lord of the Flies; it was a Lord of the Flies with permission. When I was assigned this book to read, I knew nothing about it. I like to approach my readings with an open and unaltered palate. I like to see stories fresh without any preconceived notion. When I hear about a story and am told the basic plotline, I usually deconstruct what I’ve been told and try to piece it together into a mold that the certain story may fall into. Because of that I am usually disappointed when I am presented with a story. I don’t get to experience it the way I really hoped to have. Reading Jekyll and Hyde, I expected something different. Reading Dorian Gray I was looking for something more. Even though I’d read Psycho before, I was still looking for and expecting that one element that has entered the common vernacular.

If I’d know that The Girl Next Door was a Lord of the Flies tale, I may have been less disgusted. I may have seen some of the abuses coming way before they were perpetrated. But because I knew nothing, had no notion as to what the story was about, I was drawn into the tale with a beautifully lulling opening. As I read, it was possible for me to believe the story would have a happy ending. I was able to make my own assumptions and hope for the one character that truly held the story together. I even believed that Meg would somehow live.

About a third of the way through when I saw the evil gleam in some of the kid’s eyes I said “This is Lord of the Flies with permission.” Even though it’s been a long time since I read Flies, I still remember, with horror, watching the kids run amuck yet hoping they would act sanely. I remember thinking that kids really couldn’t act like this. This is not right.

To the children’s defense in Lord of the Flies, the kids were on their own. They decided, by some primitive means, that the tribal way to live was better than the civilized way. They poked, prodded, and tortured because that’s what kids do. Kids sometimes pick on the fat kid, or the funny looking kid. Sometimes the picking on gets out of hand and that’s when the adults step in and intervene. The horror of The Girl Next Door was these kids not only had adult supervision, they had adult permission to do what they were doing.

Because the kids had permission to do what they were doing, they were able to unleash all of their energies into depravity. They were given free rein to pick on the kid that no one else would stand up for. Ruth, this book’s Lord, even gave the neighborhood kids ideas. In the end, the kids were just puppets to her wishes, unleashing the abuse she wished and ascribed. Because of that, the kids did things they’d never thought they’d do to another human being. They perpetrated acts they probably never would have even thought of without the prodding of an adult.

Like Lord of the Flies, the evils in The Girl Next Door started small and grew beyond normal bounds. In Flies the hunters no longer hunted for food, they hunted for the kill. In The Girl Next Door, the kids no longer picked on someone for social dominance; they abused for the rush and ultimately killed because it got out of hand. In Lord of the Flies the kids couldn’t leave the island, but in The Girl Next Door the kids were there by their own free will and this is what makes it scary.

In all, I am glad I didn’t know what they story was about because I could read it without notions. The horror was more real and all the more scary.

There are probably many more comparisons that could be made between the two and I’ll be surprised to see if I’m the only one that wrote about this novels connection to Lord of the Flies. If there isn't a comparison paper written about these two novels, I’d be very surprised.

On a side note, I found out that this story was kind of inspired by a real life situation. And because of that, it makes it even scarier.

 

Bonus question: Real life story aside, do you think Ketchum meant this as a partial homage to Lord of the Flies?

I think Misery is one of King’s finest works. Not only is the story way too close to reality but it is almost a lesson on writing a novel. I’ve suggested this book to more than one people who have said “You know, one day I’d like to write a novel. But I don’t know where to start.” I point them to one of the many used bookstores in town and tell them to pick up a copy ASAP.

King deftly weaves the story the author is writing with the reality of his imprisonment. He shows us where Paul gets his motivation and we get to read the story within the story. We get to see the writing process from germ of an idea to full blown outbreak of a novel. Not only that, but we get real struggles. We get the truth and we get understanding.

I personally think that Misery is one of King’s scariest works. It takes pages from reality. There is nothing supernatural about this story. The story could happen next door and no one would say it was unbelievable. There is a real psycho, there is a real danger and there is a real life in the balance. King introduces us to Paul and we feel his pain and feel his fear. For me, the fear hits too close to home.

Ah, Misery, this story brings about fear and memories for me. I had my own Paul Sheldon period in my life. Granted I still have both legs and I’ve never written a book under duress as he had to, but this story is particularly frightening to me. Let me explain.

I’ve been a writer for a long time now. I started writing when I was in sixth grade, I wrote a play and then a collection of comics and things went on from there. Before I was married, I usually attracted girls that were fans of writing in general and my writing in particular. These weren’t normal, run of the mill fans; they were the most frightening kind, “number one fans.”

I had one girl tell me that she’d like nothing more than to sit around and watch me write. There was another that thought I would be eternally grateful to her if she wrote a long “review” of my work to send to coworkers.

Then there was one fan that I will never forget. She was my Annie. (Not her real name). We started dating under odd circumstances, more like coincidence than anything. She was great when our relationship started, but things got weird fast. She’d ask my dorm mates to break into my room so she could leave gifts for me. Imagine going into your room and finding some random thing on your bed or desk that you’ve never seen before and your roommate can’t account for.

She had an uncanny ability to find me in crowded rooms, knew when I came into her restaurant even though the seating area was huge, and she’d leave me messages on my car. Now, these might seem like great things, something every young man would want in a relationship, but when this type of thing comes with off the cuff remarks after knowing each other for a couple of weeks like “You know, I can see myself married to you right now.” And random times I’d look out my dorm window and she’d be standing on the other side of the window, staring at me as I wrote, you can see how I’d get a little scared. She told me on more than one occasion that she loved that I wrote, thought it was the coolest thing and would love to read anything and everything I ever wrote.

Now, you are probably asking me how this relates to Misery and how am I Paul Sheldon? Well, one day we’re walking somewhere and she turns to me and asks “Have you ever seen Misery?”

I’ve seen a lot of movies but had to think for a little bit. “Nope, never seen it.  Why?”

“Oh, I think you’ll love it. It’s one of my favorites.”

Well, I went out and rented it and was thoroughly scared. She reminded me of Annie and how close I was to being her Paul Sheldon. And now, when I read Misery, I put myself in Paul’s shoes, for I have almost been there.

And that’s why Annie Wilkes is scary, because she is real. She could be the girl next door.

I’m gonna go out on a limb with a genre mash up. Here is my limb, The Brood is not only a horror movie but a science fiction film also. Did I just blow your mind? Probably not, but I hope I got you to think about it for a little bit. There are things that do make this film mainstream and mainline horror, but I think there is a main element of the story that helps it lean toward science fiction. I christen this a sci-horror.

First let’s look at the horror elements. There is blood, this is a staple of horror. If it isn't, I don’t know what is. There are little freaky creatures running around killing people. Not necessarily a horror staple, but random murders are more along the lines of the horror genre than many others. Lastly, there is a bit of a supernatural, evil outside force working toward the demise of the main characters.

The science fiction elements are a little more prevalent. You have a scientifically themed center, that’s main goal is to cure the ill through natural, scientific means. The developer of this method has found a way to have his patients and followers find the root cause of the latent evils and wrongs in their life. Through therapy sessions, treatments, and activities, the patients find cures for their maladies.

Horror and science fiction mix in the form of bizarre side effects and after effects of the extraordinary treatments. Some patients experience bleeding welts that only surface during treatments. One patient has grown a tumor when the anger he has at himself attacks his body and develops into lymphatic cancer.

The last patient is the most bizarre. Nola is one of the main players in the movie. She births little evil spawns that do her dirty work, killing the people she hates most. One could argue that she is the mother and hatred is the father. These little demon children wreak havoc on all who have wronged Nola, giving her a special place in the community her doctor and the developer of the psychoplasmic method has created. As far as I can tell, she doesn’t really know she is killing anyone. She just knows that she feels better after getting the hatred out. Her sessions have gone so far that the evil released does her subconscious bidding. When forced to confront the evil she is doing, she knows the only escape is death.

The evil running wild is a horror staple and the method of bringing this evil to the surface is the scientific method. The combination of the two creates a movie that, although cheesy, does join horror and science fiction. On the surface, this probably should be categorized as a horror movie, but if one were pressed and couldn’t find it at their local Blockbuster, I’d point them to the science fiction section of the store.

 

On a side note, The Brood reminds me of a 1950’s science fiction movie called The Forbidden Planet. In this movie we have a similar story. A scientist creates a subconscious monster that kills his friends and enemies. When the scientist is happy, the monster is kept at bay. But if the scientist is unhappy and falls asleep, the monster is unleashed and death reigns. The difference between The Brood and The Forbidden Planet is that the monster is only a product of his subconscious and does not exist when the scientist is awake. This story took the theme from a different vantage. We spent most of the film on a distant planet, the creature was invisible and brought totally from the scientific mind. I’d be hard pressed to put The Forbidden Planet into the horror genre but I can see where it might have a home there.

 

Bonus Question: If there were ever a Brood 2 do you think that Candice would be in the mother’s shoes by bringing out the evil or would she be able to control it better at first because of her experience? Or will The Brood 2 never happen because Candice has learned her lesson?

Psycho the movie and Psycho the book are two different animals, two different stories. Yes, they take us along the same trip, but one story is about a man and his mental problems. The other is about a woman and the money she has stolen. You could say that they are just two sides of the same coin as the book and the movie are almost identical. You could say that, but it is a matter of point of view. I contest that the book is Norman’s story, he is the main character, we learn about him. Conversely, the movie is about Mary aka Marion and the money she steals. We learn more about her in the movie than we do in the book.

For example, in the book, the first character we meet is Norman. Norman is sitting at his house where he’s reading and daydreaming. We enter his mind as he wonders what type of noise the drums in the book he’s reading make. Then, his mother enters. We can feel her presence before we ever see her. Norman knows she is in the room without ever looking up. She complains that he forgot to turn the sign on to their hotel. They have an argument and he goes downstairs and then to the hotel to turn the light on. He is angry, his mother is belittling him again and there is not much he can do about it.

Conversely, in the movie, we first meet Marion. She is in a bedroom in a hotel with her boyfriend, Sam. They are getting dressed and talking about how wonderful it will be when they are finally married. Sam complains about his money troubles and Marion tells Sam she doesn’t care, she’ll live with him in the back of his hardware shop forever if that’s what it takes to be married to him.

Marion then goes into work and has $40,000 dropped on her desk. We can see that she is thinking about taking the money and even daydreams about showing the stack of bills to Sam. She then runs off with the money, we are with her when she buys a car, when she gets followed by the police. We are even with her when she first meets Norman Bates. We become so intimate with Marion that we even see and experience her murder.

This is where the movie and the book diverge. In the book, we get both sides of the story. We see Norman and his struggles to keep his mother well behaved. In the movie though, we learn almost none of this. The main focus shifts from Marion to her sister Lila and her boyfriend Sam. They want to know what happened to Marion.

There are many coinciding factors in both the book and the movie, but the real difference is the introspection from Norman. In the book we hear his thoughts, we see him plotting and planning. We experience the horror of having an abusive mother. In the book, we can feel for Norman and how torn he is because his mother has murdered someone. He knows he should turn his mother in to the police, but he can’t bring himself to do so. This is not the case in the movie. Instead we feel pity for Marion; she was in the wrong place at the wrong time. The movie is about finding her and finding the money. It becomes a murder mystery, at least from the other characters standpoint.

There are many other instances in the book where we learn more and more about Norman and they were not present in the movie. The reason for that is the point of view and maybe even the medium’s choice of the main character. Mary aka Marion is the main character of Psycho the movie. Norman is the main character of Psycho the book. It is amazing how something as small as a point of view shift can change the way a story plays.

By the way, I don’t think Psycho would have worked as a movie with Norman as the main character. The surprise ending would have been given up very early.

Bonus Question: The novel states that Norman would wear his mothers clothes and make up when he dressed as her. Do you think he cleaned up the mess in the shower while still wearing makeup or did he take that off in his haze?

I sometimes look a little too deep in novels and movies looking for some underlying theme or message. Sometimes I like to ask myself questions about the reality of a subject of a novel or the truth behind the ending. Needless to say, I like twist endings as long as I don’t see them coming from a mile away. Because of this, I like M. Night Shymalan. Say what you will about him, but he can take you out of your comfort zone and change the story direction, or at least your perception of the story’s direction, with the slight turn of the point of view. I personally like the story direction from my point of view to be changed so I can then look at the novel or movie or story from a completely different angle. For instance, I would like to think that Jekyll didn’t really turn into Hyde; it was all in his mind. I think that Telltale Heart would be completely different if we look at the story and assign different gender to the main character instead of assuming the main character is a male. And I have done this with The Picture of Dorian Gray. I don’t think that any of the story actually happened, it was all in his mind.

If you haven’t read Dorian Gray, it is basically, and I mean this in the simplest of terms, about a man who wishes to look young forever and gets that wish only to find that a portrait painted by a friend is carrying the burden of his sins and grows old in his place.

For those of you that have read it, and if you’re in my class, you should have, please bear with me for a minute. Before you get out your pitchforks and torches and burn me as a heretic, let’s take a look at the last paragraph of the novel. It reads, “When they entered, they found hanging upon the wall a splendid portrait of their master as they had last seen him, in all the wonder of his exquisite youth and beauty. Lying on the floor was a dead man, in evening dress, with a knife in his heart. He was withered, wrinkled, and loathsome of visage. It was not till they had examined the rings that they recognized who it was.”

To catch you up, Dorian has done many evil things. He’s committed murder, exploited friends, blackmailed, cheated, lied, was the reason for a suicide, and many more unnamed sins. But, the evil never shows on Dorian’s face. He doesn’t gain a single wrinkle and his hair never goes gray. But with every evil he commits, the painting changes and shows the changing of his soul. The painting grows old, the face changes, the hair falls out, and the painting has a blood stained hand.

As I finished the last paragraph I though, is it possible that Dorian never did any of these evil things? Or, could it be that he was so enamored by his own painting and what it stood for that he became jealous that it would never change yet he would grow old?

After reading the last paragraph I looked at the story with this basic outline.

1.      Dorian gets his picture painted and likes it and hangs it in his house.

2.      Dorian tells the girl he loves that he no longer loves her. This causes him to feel guilty.

3.      Dorian finds a mirror later that night and compares his face to the painting and is jealous that the painting is unchanged, but he, the true evil is growing old with sin.

4.      (This is where the story goes into the mind) Dorian locks himself in his upper class room with the painting, staring at it and brooding over it day and night. He goes out nightly in secret and commits heinous crimes and returns to look at the painting. In his mind, it has changed but in reality it is his own face that is changing, he is just projecting his evils upon it. His servants don’t see him and maybe they think they work for a recluse.

5.      Dorian continues to live in his mind going as far as creating parties and enjoying social interactions. The evil side of his conscience, Lord Henry, continues to lead him astray till he kills the only friend that ever really sees him for his true ugly self. The friend was not killed because they see the evil in the painting, they see it in Dorian.

6.      Late in life Dorian finds that his conscience is so heavy that he can no longer hold the evil inside and decides to kill what has really changed. He stabs himself while staring at the painting, knowing that he will never look that way again.

Now, go back and read the last paragraph again, I’ll wait. This is the sentence that stands out to me and I will put my own emphasis on words, “a splendid portrait of their master as they had last seen him, (they don’t say how long ago) in all the wonder of his exquisite youth and beauty.” We have now changed point of view to the servants and entered reality. They came running up the stairs after hearing a scream, broke in through the balcony window and saw their Howard Hughes boss lying dead. He has committed suicide. It’s been so long since they’ve seen him that the only way to recognize him is by his rings. Anyway, that’s how I see it. What about you?

 

Bonus Question. If the story was really true as in the painting changing and Dorian staying young I ask you this: Did the painting murder Dorian or did he kill himself?

 

Works Cited

Wilde, Oscar. The Picture of Dorian Gray. “Project Gutenberg,” http://www.gutenberg.org/files/174/174.txt

Today I’m going to talk about stories you think you know. The stories you already know what it is all about even before you read it. The story, so to speak, has entered the common vernacular. You know what Romeo and Juliet is about. Star crossed lovers that commit suicide. You that Dracula is about a blood sucking vampire. You know the background of so many other stories simply because they are in our common vernacular. I had the same thoughts about Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. It was about a doctor that changed into an evil counterpart he had no control over. And, it turns out, I was mostly wrong.

One of the problems with the common vernacular is that, even though it is usually partially right, it is mostly wrong. Romeo and Juliet is more than just two people that can’t get together, there are layers of local political intrigue and a fair amount of comedy. It isn't just the star crossed lovers, although that’s a whole lot easier to put on a poster. For those of you that have read Dracula, I being partially one of them, knows that Dracula isn’t just about a vampire. There is so much more and it really is quite interesting how much is left out of the adaptations.

As it turns out my forethoughts of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde were completely wrong. My knowledge has come from a common language and many different iterations of the story told. One of my favorites is a Warner Bros. cartoon starring Bugs Bunny called Hyde and Hare. It starts out with Bugs playing a rare character for him, the cute little bunny. He hops over to a kind old man who feeds him carrots every day. Bugs being Bugs decides that there has been too much work involved in getting the carrots every day, and jumps into the old man’s arms and convinces the man, who turns out to be Dr. Jekyll, to take him home as a pet. Well, things go great until Bugs sees a monster roaming the house and does everything he can to save Jekyll. The cartoon has many gags where Jekyll and Bugs run into rooms to hide and Jekyll turns into Hyde. I definitely suggest checking it out.

Here I am going to blow your mind, that’s not how the story unfolds. I know, you say that Bugs and his pals always did true adaptations of classics. But this time they were wrong. First off, Jekyll, a sweet natured little old man turns into the behemoth of a green Hyde. In fact, in almost every adaptation of Jekyll and Hyde I can think of, Hyde is the big hulk of a character where Jekyll is a meek and small one. In the original story Hyde is the alter ego, but he is much smaller in stature. He is all evil, but he’s not some crazed monster. There is still some of Jekyll in him. Jekyll has some control but the evil impulses of Hyde reign supreme.

My original idea about Jekyll and Hyde was completely different from the original story. I thought that Jekyll was a sort of drug addict that couldn’t help but take the potion to turn him into Hyde. I always thought that when Jekyll transformed into Hyde it was like an Incredible Hulk transformation with ripped clothing and then Hyde would run off and smash things. I also thought that Jekyll and Hyde was about the rampages of Hyde and how Jekyll tried his best to conceal that they were one and the same. I always thought that Jekyll had to take the potion to turn into Hyde. I almost wish that I’d never heard all of these because it ruined my reading.

The story is really about one of Jekyll’s friends and lawyer, Mr. Utterson, who hears evil stories relating to an Edward Hyde who is the main benefactor if Jekyll disappears. Hyde almost kills a little girl and Hyde beats a man to death. Mr. Utterson spends most of the story trying to find Hyde and understand him and in turn tries to convince Jekyll to change his Will because a man as vile as Hyde would ruin the good name of Jekyll. The story ends with two letters, one from another friend to Mr. Utterson to be read upon the death or disappearance of Henry Jekyll and another written by Jekyll as a sort of confession. We find out that Jekyll cannot control the Hyde side of his life at the end. It isn't that he’s addicted to being Hyde, Hyde simply takes over. For instance, Jekyll will fall asleep as himself and wake as Hyde. By the end of his life we find out he is doing everything he can to shirk the life of Hyde but he cannot find the right ingredients. One of the final things ruined by common vernacular, I always thought that the story was called Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Turns out, it’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The title alone shows the story is different than my understanding. The story is not about the titular characters and their escapades, it is about the case and understanding who they are.

Bonus question: as I was finishing the last pages, I got this thought. What if the whole transformation was just in Jekyll’s mind? Is that possible? Maybe he just got an evil look about him and the drug only affected him mentally, causing him to hallucinate his transformation. The pain he suffered during this hallucination was so real that it caused him to bend over in pain and to stretch his face into an evil grin.

I’m choosing to talk in this particular blog about something that might not be thought about much in the realm of horror. Morality. No, I’m not going to give a sermon about how horror fiction is immoral or how evil it is. In fact, I’m going to make a blanket statement here and maybe this isn't the best thing to say, but I believe that the horror genre is one of the most moral genres of fiction. I hope to be able to express this by talking about two stories, “Dread” by Clive Barker and “The Telltale Heart” by Edgar Allen Poe.
First, we need to understand what morality is. Morality, according to Webster’s is the relating of or understanding of right and wrong. I believe that horror although filled with showing the evil men do to themselves and one another, also shows that the evils done are never in the characters good. They ultimately show that good is better than evil, that good wins. I think this is the heart of the moral debate. I don’t believe something can be considered morally good with evil triumphing in the end.
First, let’s look at the morality of “Dread” by Clive Barker. Dread has two main characters, Steve and Quaid. Steve is the main protagonist. He is a student working on his English degree. Within his course studies he’s found an opening and decides to take an Ethics class. Quaid, on the other hand, is a Philosophy major. It is by coincidence that these two are in this particular Ethics class together. Through their many barroom and after class discussions, Quaid brings up his one choice of study, dread. He strives to learn more about it and help people face their dread.
In Steve’s case, Steve dreads a recurrence of his childhood deafness. The way Quaid helps him face that dread is by holding him hostage and forcing him to wear a headset that blocks all sound. Through his learning session, Steve reverts to his childhood. He loses all understanding and has a terrible memory lapse. He does not know who he is or where he is. In a strange twist of fate, and here the morality pays in full, Steve plays the judge. He enacts a sentence of take what you give by helping Quaid face his fear, a fear of axe murderers. In the end, evil, embodied in Quaid, loses and good, shown through Steve, wins.
The morality of “The Telltale Heart” by Edgar Allen Poe is very easy to see in my opinion. We are introduced to the main character in the middle of planning the demise of the owner of the house in which they live. The owner, we are lead to believe by the deranged main character, is an evil man. He has a devil eye and the main character is obsessed with it. They wish to pluck it out or destroy it in some way. When we meet the main character, they are sitting at the master of the house’s door with a lantern. They are peeking through, watching, waiting for the moment when the eye is most vulnerable. They wait night after night, peeking in the room ever so quietly until the night when the plan to stop the evil eye finally comes into play. This night, the eye is open and the main character attacks in a rage. In the ensuing struggle, the master is killed and the main character dismembers him. The old man is buried under the floor in his room and the main character believes they have gotten away with murder.
But, you knew it was coming, the police arrive. The main character, in their smugness, invites the police, who are inquiring about a scream heard in the night, to search the house. In confidence they invite the police to stay for tea. And here the moral shows itself. The main character, knowing they have done something wrong has a subconscious attack of guilt. They perceive the, at first, undetectable sound of ticking as if through cotton. They realize that this is the sound of the old man’s beating heart and is incredulous that the police cannot hear it. The main character, in an ultimate showing of guilt yells and proclaims “Villains!... “dissemble no more! I admit the deed—tear up the planks!—here, here!—it is the beating of his hideous heart!”
This is the moment where the story ends, but the morality also comes into play. The main character is a villain, they have murdered and believed they will get away with it until the unseen moral code forces the character to confess. They have destroyed evil, been caught and are presumably arrested for the murder. Evil, once again, is thwarted.
There are many more examples of strong morality in horror fiction but these two examples show that horror has a strong showing of morality. It appeared more than 100 years ago when Poe penned “The Telltale Heart” and it seems that morality is still important to modern horror in “Dread.”

Bonus question: Do you think the main character in Telltale is a male or female? I've always thought male, but female works too.

So, small update. My writing took a turn last night. I'm pretty certain the idea I was writing the night before last is more likely to be a novel than a short story. I always thought my next project wouldn't be as engrossing as another novel, but I think I've got in in me. I mean, come on, I've already written a novel, why not write another.
Also, I think I'm ready to submit my first novel for a contest or two.

Hello old friends, old readers.
It is with much thought that I rejoin the blogosphere or whatever this is called. I took much time off for personal writing time. I figured it was more important to finish my thesis project than to post the occasional update on my uneventful life.
So it is with this that I rejoin: last night I began my next project. Today I begin blogging about it.
At this writing, I don't know if it will be a short story collection or another novel. The project I began last night could easily be turned into a novel, but it could just as easily be a short story. I don't know and I think that's ok.
I wanted something new, some idea I haven't thought about in a long time, so I spent thirty or forty minutes going through notes looking for the hint of the idea and I think I found one. My only goal was to find an idea I could turn into my last submission for the critique sessions. I have achieved that and much more. I haven't written much in the last month, I figured time off would be good and yes it was.
Anyway, more later.

Ever wonder what type of voice you have in your writing? Ever wonder if you write more like a male or female? Yeah, I didn't really think about it either. Well, if you check out this link, you can see if your writing needs to be masculinized (I just made that word up) or Feminized (that one too.)

Check it out. So far, the gender genie has said I write like a male. Good thing, I guess.

http://www.bookblog.net/gender/genie.html

If you don't think potty humor is funny, then never mind the link. I do, and I feel like being 12 again. So here is some for you fellow kids at heart.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2584236663462922753

I haven't written anything in here in a while. I don't have much to say, at least not right now. Still writing, so that's great. But anyway. If you are a fan of Fight Club or Calvin and Hobbes you should read this, it is an interesting take.

http://www.metaphilm.com/philm.php?id=29_0_2_0

So I sent everything I needed for project approval last week. Synopsis and all that stuff. Well, I got a letter back from Pat that states some issues and how to repair them. So I'll do that, but I have no idea if I got approval. It worried me, cause that's due now. It came in the form of a letter, which from reading through the handbook it is supposed to, also a copy is supposed to be sent to me and SHU and I have a photocopy, so I guess that's good, but I still didn't know.
So this morning I emailed Pat and asked if I have approval. All he stated was that I didn't need to resubmit any of the work I finished previously, just continue. So do I have approval? I don't know. I don't feel like failing out of the program because I didn't turn everything in on time.
My guess is, since he told me to keep going and gave me some suggestions, that it is approval. Knowing Pat, he would tell me if I sucked and needed to start over. So. I guess I have it. I have never written a synopsis so I really didn't know what to do. So I will probably rewrite that and resubmit it and see what he says. Hopefully nothing happens that is adverse and everything works out ok.

Last night I worked feverishly to complete the outline for my novel. I know, I used an "ly" word. Shoot me. Anyway, since I am a 'two' I know that I have to turn in my synopsis before the end of the month or the wrath of Pic will fall upon me. And well, I don't know if you know the Pic, but that's a bad thing. So I wanted something to be able to help me create this synopsis, now I do.
After a few hours work I have a 16 page outline for myself detailing almost everything I want in the novel. I haven't done this type of thing before and I don't think this will hinder my writing, but with the ending of my novel in tact, "read previous entry for the details" I knew where I was going and what I was doing, so I could complete this with ease. I worked out story issues I had before, I worked out background and boring issues I had before. So, if everything stays on track, the 65 pages I have of novel so far will turn into a completed project by this time next month.
Ok, not completed but a first draft that will probably go through the grinder and shredder a few times. But I will have time. And maybe, if, I'm crazy enough, give me time to work on a second. That is, as long as the pace keeps up.

Last night, right before I went home, I had a great idea for a story. It would possibly be my next novel or just one that's down the line. Well, I was really excited and I didn't know what I should do about it. I didn't want the story to be forgotten, but I also didn't want to leave my novel for something that might not go anywhere because it was just an idea.
I thought, maybe I should turn this into a short story. But that didn't work either. So I let the idea sit in my head and bounce around. I also wrote it down in my idea journal just so I didn't lose everything to my forgetful brain.
Then when I was on my way home, my wife asked me to stop by the grocery store, so I went and forgot about the story idea for a little, trying my best to focus on remembering the list of items so I didn't mess up and forget anything. Anyway, I got into my car to get back to the house and it hit me. This idea is the end of my novel. I needed a strong ending, and wow, here's one.
I will not forget the inspiration and can always say that without the word "bidet," I would have never come up with the idea.
Don't worry, a bidet has nothing to do with the ending of my novel.

So here is an update on the novel I am writing, if you care that is.

At the residency, I really felt something going on with the story. My head was spinning and tales were stringing together to revive my dying novel. Well a miracle has happened. As of yesterday I have 35 more pages. So that's really good for me. I hope to keep this up. I should be able to.

Oh yeah, I also have the first 3 chapters and I can submit my synopsis. That's a big weight off my shoulders. I cannot wait to see what happens and where things really go with it cause you know that things change all the time with writing.

I am back. I am glad, but I'm also sad. It was a great residency. I wouldn't have changed the time for anything, but by Sunday, I was ready to be home and with my wife.

I am recharged. I feel ready to hit the writing and finish a novel. That's the idea at least. Things are good in my mind. I hope they end up that way on the page.

Just a few more pages to go and I will have started.

I have finally gotten a moment to do a little LJ. Let me first start out with where I have been, if you care, read on.
About a month or two ago I was sitting in my office and got called out for another meeting. During the meeting, I was told that I didn't have enough contact with my employees and I should move from my office. I was told it'd be about a month and lets just say I never saw the inside of the office again because my former supervisor moved in. She took my keys and my title and then well, basically called me a horrible person at my job.
The truth was, that they didn't like what I was doing and how I was doing it and thought I had a little too much "power" if that's what it could be called.
Soon after that, I was continually berated for being "not their model of a leader." Basically they wanted me to tell the people to "sit down, shut up, I am in charge, I am the totalitarian and you will like it or be fired."
Well, that's not me.
So as time went by I was soon called into more and more meetings where my quality of a leader was constantly questioned by two people in high places. The day before my birthday I was called for one more meeting and was told I would be lead and mentored to be the leader they want me to be.
Then came my birthday. I got called into a meeting at 4:30 and I heard this phrase. "Well, I hear it's your birthday. We're going to go ahead and move you out of your position. Any questions?"
I wanted to really ask a whole boatload but there was no way I could get them out because of the blow I was just dealt.
Anyway, the next day, I got another job and I have been working here since and training.
I really hope to be able to keep up with this.
See everyone in June.

Well, I'm here to say that I'm not dead, just really busy. So if you see this, know that I have not passed on. It is strange to think that some people only know one another through the internet and then one day they don't return your email. How do you know if they just missed the boat to life that morning? Whatever. I imagine this sort of thing will be the philosophical discussion of the new age. How can you keep in touch with someone you've never met?
Well, that's all.

I have been having trouble with visualizing some of the action in my novel. I wasn’t sure where things happened and how they happened in relation to other actions in the story. Houses play an important role in my novel. So yesterday I decided to give drawing the estates a shot. It really opened my mind and I could get past needing to keep the picture of the house in my head. I noticed that once I did this, it seemed to open a flood gate. Now I cannot wait to get home and start writing again.
It really helped for me because I am a visual learner.